Friday, January 1, 2016

Almond Joy Cookies

Every year my best friend has a cookie exchange party right before Christmas. I love to try new recipes for this event. A friend from work mentioned maybe I'd like to try Almond Joy cookies, and I thought that was a fantastic idea.
An Almond Joy candy bar has a coconut based center with an almond or two on top, coated in chocolate. I looked for a recipe, but couldn't find one I liked. The recipes I found all had the elements of the candy bar mixed into the cookie. I did not want them mixed in, so I decided to make a more layered version of an Almond Joy cookie. I used a chocolate chip cookie base, but took out the chocolate chips, and added coconut extract and shredded coconut. I then created a soft chocolate, spread it on the cookies, and sprinkled sliced almonds on top. The look and taste was well achieved! The recipe is as follows.

Toppings:
2 cups chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet, but milk would be more in keeping with an Almond Joy.)
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sliced almondsNow these are for topping the cookie, of course, so the amounts may vary depending on how much you actually put on top of each cookie.Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375˚F.
In a mixing bowl, cream sugars, and 2 cups butter, room temperature, until fluffy. Crack eggs into a seperate bowl (to avoid getting shells into your cookies), and add to butter/sugar mix along with vanilla and coconut extracts. Mix thoroughly. Combine flour, salt, and baking soda; added to butter mixture. Mix just until combined. Add coconut and mix gently until incorporated. Do not over mix.

Scoop cookies onto a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
Melt chocolate chips and butter in a microwave safe dish, 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between. Do not over heat, as chocolate burns easily.
When the cookies are done, and cooled, spread the chocolate mixture over each cookie; sprinkle with sliced almonds.

I don't have a yield for this recipe, because it truly depends on the size of cookie you make. I actually made several sizes of cookies. It probably makes about 3 dozen average sized cookies.